The Melheimian Sabbatiblog

What is Worship?

Our Penguin winning "Outstanding Young Musician" from a couple years ago, Lauren Redpath, is sending out a survey asking folks some questions on the nature of worship. Here are her questions and my brief attempt at answers.

If you'd like to chime in, send your responses to info@laurenredpath.com:

Question 1: Is music worship?
The Middle English word “worship” comes from: [Origin: bef. 900; (n.) ME wors(c)hipe, worthssipe, OE worthscipe, var. of weorthscipe; see worth, -ship; (v.)

It is the vehicle (ship) that brings worth to God.

Music that honors God is pure worship!

Question 2: Is prayer worship?

Prayer that praises God is pure worship! 

Question 3: Does worship mean going to church?

Nope. But if the church is a vehicle that brings worth to God, then the church is a carrier of that praise.

Question 4: What or who are we worshipping?

I hope we’re worshipping God… not the vehicle. (the performance, the performer, the preacher, the building)

Question 5: What does it mean to worship?

The best line I can think of to describe pure worship comes from the  Charles Wesley hymn “Love, Divine, All Loves Excelling”. It goes like this:

Finish, then, thy new creation;
pure and spotless let us be.
Let us see thy great salvation
perfectly restored in thee;
changed from glory into glory,
till in heaven we take our place,
till we cast our crowns before thee,
lost in wonder, love, and praise.

Lost in wonder, love and praise.

That’s worship.  - Rich

 

How to Write Two Books on One Sabbatical

My friend Susan Langhauser, author of Abingdon's "Blessings & Rituals for the Journey of Life" wrote the other day lamenting the fact that the sabbatical she planned for 2007 may have to wait until 2008. Then she told me about two new books she wanted to write, and asked if I thought someone could write two books at a time? Here's my response to anyone who wants to be a writer, under the title of "How to Write Two Books on One Sabbatical."

Dear Writer Friend,

When I was in college I met Truman Capote at a writer's conference. I asked the strange little man, "How do you become a writer?" His answer?

"You write."

Yes, you can write two books in one sabbatical, but here's the deal:

From now until the day you get into the car to drive away on your well deserved sabbatical, you must do the following:

1. Decide and determine the most creative, productive bio-sensitive hour in your day.

2. Lock yourself up three days a week for that most creative hour each day- no phone, no email, no visitors, no pool, no pets. If anyone comes near the door, tell them "I have an appointment..." and if they violate you for even 30 more seconds you will not be responsible for their medical expenses.

3. For the next ten weeks during your three creative planning hours a week, follow the following schedule as if your life and your future depended on it. (It does).:

 

Week 1

Day 1: Write a working title for the first book (that is all you will be allowed to do in this entire first  hour)

Day 2: Write a one sentence log line for the first book (that is all you will be allowed to do in this entire second hour)

Day 3: Write the back page paragraph for the first book (that is all you will be allowed to do in this entire third hour) Then put it all aside .

 

Week 2

Day 1: Write a working title for your second book (that is all you will be allowed to do this hour)

Day 2: Write a one sentence log line for your second book (that is all you will be allowed to do this hour)

Day 3: Write the back page paragraph (that is all you will be allowed to do this hour) Then put it all aside.

 

Week 3

Day 1: Write preliminary chapter titles and a table of contents for the first book (that is all you will be allowed to do that hour)

Day 2: Write the first sentence of each chapter (that is all you will be allowed to do that hour)

Day 3: Write the first rough paragraph of each chapter (that is all you will be allowed to do that hour) Then put it all aside.

 

Week 4

Day 1: Write preliminary chapter titles and a table of contents for the second book (that is all you will be allowed to do that hour)

Day 2: Write a first sentence of each chapter (that is all you will be allowed to do that hour)

Day 3: Write the first rough paragraph of each chapter (that is all you will be allowed to do that hour) Then put it all aside.

 

Week 5

Day 1: Write a second rough paragraph of the first 1/3 of the chapters for the first book(that is all you will be allowed to do that hour)

Day 2: Write a second rough paragraph of the second 1/3 of the chapters (that is all you will be allowed to do that hour)

Day 3: Write a second rough paragraph of the third 1/3 of the chapters (that is all you will be allowed to do that hour)

 

Week 6

Day 1: Write a second rough paragraph of the first 1/3 of the chapters for the second book (that is all you will be allowed to do that hour)

Day 2: Write a second rough paragraph of the second 1/3 of the chapters (that is all you will be allowed to do that hour)

Day 3: Write a second rough paragraph of the third 1/3 of the chapters (that is all you will be allowed to do that hour)

 

Week 7

Set everything aside for one week. No writing allowed. You have finished the roughs of the two books in six weeks. Celebrate! Then prepare for the next phase and think of three words. Discipline, discipline, discipline. Three simple hours a week during your most creative time of the day (first thing in morning is my time) was dedicated to getting your books outlined. Those three hours a week for the next weeks - from now until you leave for the sabbatical - will be dedicated to researching, hunting, and pulling all the pieces together to take with you into the actual writing process.

WEEK 8

Day 1: Rewrite your title of the first book - and put a tentative lock on it 

Day 2: Rewrite the one sentence log line - and put a tentative lock on it

Day 3: Rewrite the back page paragraph - and put a tentative lock on it

 

WEEK 9

Day 1: Rewrite your title of the second book - and put a tentative lock on it

Day 2: Rewrite the one sentence log line - and put a tentative lock on it

Day 3: Rewrite the back page paragraph - and put a tentative lock on it

 

WEEK 10

You will now be putting all of your roughs aside and will not touch them until your sabbatical. The only thing you will be allowed to do this week is:

Day 1: Print the title, log line, back page paragraph and chapter titles for both books on a wall chart next to your computer

Day 2: Create separate file folders for each chapter and house them near your work desk

Day 3: Spend one hour looking through the best of your old sermons and talks for stories, anecdotes, and memories that might fit with what you're trying to say in the chapters.

FROM THIS DAY ON, AND UNTIL YOU BEGIN THE SABBATICAL, YOUR THREE SACROSANCT HOURS A WEEK WILL BE SPENT HUNTING AND GATHERING.

Anytime you read an article, come across a good quotation, or hear a great story that would fit in one of those chapters, copy it, jot it down and throw it into the appropriate chapter file for inclusion in the book when you finally take the sabbatical and begin writing. Any time you come across the name of a leader, speaker, writer, or other interesting person who has anything to do with any of your topics, you will find out where they live and send them a handwritten note telling them you'd like to  interview them by phone or buy them a cup of coffee during your writing break.

Do this, and three things will happen that will make the books write themselves, once you actually start writing:

1. You will find your mind racing, focusing, searching, hunting, listening, tuning in, and relentlessly gathering all kinds of gold nuggets and great contacts for the writing of book and the marketing of the book prior to its release.

2. You will also find yourself excited, engaged and itching to finally get away and get writing.

3. You will find the next two topics for your next two books emerge from among all this good stuff - which will become way too much information for the focus of the first two books - and you will be well on your way to creating the significant writing and speaking career that awaits you...

 

How Old's the Teacher?

How old do you have to be to TEACH Bible Song in sign language?

How about six and two?

Two minutes into the teaching of the first song in Des Moines Saturday, Ashton and Sage were on stage with me teaching the adults the David and Goliath Bible verse in sign language and song.

I'm at Faith in West Fargo tomorrow and Edina, MN on the 3rd doing it again. Come on over if you care to see how easy it is to learn scripture when you use the whole brain - and whole body - as a learning tool.

Advice for the Price of Coffee

The cheapest thing you can ask of anyone is advice.

The most valuable thing you can ask of anyone is advice.

What’s it worth? In the words of Saladin the Great at the close of the movie Kingdom of Heaven:

Nothing.

And everything.

Most people are honored to give you their advice. If you come to them transparently with no hidden agenda or ulterior motives, honestly seeking their insights on a problem, asking them privately and personally for their help, most of them will give it to you.

Ask them if you can simply buy them a cup of coffee in return for 20 minutes of picking their brains.

The results? You can receive world-class insights from brilliant people in any field you need. And asking them in a way they can readily say “yes,” you’ll also receive their good will, creative energies, and maybe even a connection with their own personal network of other like-minded world-class folks. By risking asking, you may just open up a treasure trove of assets, wisdom and connections.

Not a bad return on investment for a cup of java.

Originality vs Copies on UTube

Here's a Lutheran named Steve who was born the year I was born setting the standard for originality and style across a rather wide platform... and calling the big boys who only copy him some rather nasty names. Don't you just love honesty?

Steve Jobs on Microsoft

Cartoon Jesus Answer

Here's a great piece of thought from Debbie Streicher, our intergenerational director, on yesterday's "Cartoon Jesus" quesion. Couldn't have said it better myself.

The only “real” picture of Jesus we can possibly have is what is in our hearts and our minds. Jesus is only “real” to a person through us. It’s up to each of us to tell the story in whatever way possible. Is there anyplace we’ve seen a “real” picture of Jesus?

Art is in the mind of the beholder. Why have so many comics turned into movies recently with real stars playing the part? I don’t know the answer to this one, but I do know that when someone like Christopher Reeves dies, people mourn. Some set expectations he was the real Superman. People make the star, the real hero.

How do we make characters real?

Was Jesus a white anglo saxon, black, asian, funny looking, good looking? Do we really know? Wouldn’t any interpretation of him be “not real”?

First, we tell the story in what ever medium they will listen, then we tell the truth and ask questions like:

What do you see in the picture? What do you think Jesus was really like? Do you think he looked like this comic?

What is he doing in this story? Where is Jesus at work in your life?

What do you think Jesus looks like?

It’s our work to not only tell the story, but place scripture in the hands of our children and their families.

The good news would be that parents were reading cartoons about Jesus, not Pokemon or Ninja Turtles, to their children and singing scripture at church and at home. Imagine that!

The job to define reality and be reality is in our hands!

Truth? Fiction? Are we making any “Jesus” wanna bes out there?

 

Cartoon Jesus

Here's a serious question in my email this Monday morning. 

Since I'm currently two books into an eight book cartoon bible home devotional for Bible Song, it's no small question:

How would you answer?

Rich: I have a bit of a problem with how most sunday school curriculum has gone away from depicting Jesus and other bible characters as "real" and makes them all into silly cartoon characters.  I know this catches the children's eye but as they mature into adults they sometimes feel this whole church thing is like santa and the easter bunny and isn't real but is a fun game to play. 

Why do you make sunday school pictures of Jesus and other characters from the bible out to be silly cartoon characters as if they are some "simpsons" wanna bes and make this all seem like some fairy tale cartoon thing instead of truth.  Even superman from the comic books looks more "real" than most sunday school curriculum charactures of Jesus.

California Scheming

Here's a little something received from a pastor friend in LA who is trying to get parents to do nightly "Highs and Lows". We'll call him "Pastor Mike" for cover:

"Its funny when you talk to parents about doing home huddles they come up with every excuse in the book.  i even had a parent tell me, well my daughter does all kinds of bible stuff at school (christian middle school) so i don't want to burden her with any more at night.

My comeback, well just take the memory verse from school and learn it as a family and talk about how to live it out. 

Another family said to me, well she has her own devotional and she prefers to do it alone.

Thankfully the third family i talked to said they are doing it...but not every night...well at least a start...i will be relentless until parents own their baptismal promises....

Wonder if we said you can't baptize your kids until you covenant to actually do what you said you would do on the day of their dipping!"

I've invested the bulk of the last 25 years trying to find ways to pull parents into and onto the faith journey with their own kids. Looks like I've got another 25 years of work to do before nightly faith talk is the norm, not the exception, between parents and kids.

Care to help?

Cosmic Blondes and the Church

Here's a fun thought for a Wednesday morning from my futurist friend Rex Miller. It's lifted out of David Brooks: “On Paradise Drive.”

“The inescapable fact is that the universe (and church) is divided between Blondes and Brunettes. This is not a matter of color of one’s hair. This is a cosmic trait. The Cosmic Blonde floats through life on a beam of sunshine, from success to success (mega to mega). The Cosmic Brunette obsesses and reflects, frets and fumes, turns inward, and clings to the view that the examined life is the only life with living, despite all the evidence to the contrary. The Cosmic Brunette writes (blogs) and reads books (reviews them too), worries, condemns and evaluates, judges, discerns and doubts. The Cosmic Blonde water-skis (or goes to Jabez conferences)."

Good day with the Methodists in Nashville yesterday. Today it's off to chat with the www.worship.net folks to see if we might do some new things with He Qi Art, Melheim cartoons, Faith Inkubators Music guild music and their spectacular video.

Nashville Cats on a Hot Tin Roof

I woke up with the song "Nashville Cats" running through my mind. (Lord help me).

Yup, I'm in Nashville today chatting with the Methodists. Here's a piece I had my friend Sherwin Schwartzrock do for our future "Living Methodist" book. Is it:

A. Little John Wesley being saved from the Epworth parsonage fire
B. Wesley's mom Susanna moments after serving baked Alaska in the parsonage
C. The "brand from the burning" verse from Zechariah taken to extremes

Dinner last night with my mentor/friend Carl George was lots of fun. I heard Carl speak about his metachurch models back in 1990, and used a lot of his advice to build the youth ministry system that became our Faith Inkbuators "Head to the Heart" thanks to Carl.

Listen to your mentors. Then become one.

Don't wait until you are rich to become of philanthropist of your time.